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You've invested valuable time and resources into your organization's SharePoint / Office 365 solution but have you thought about user adoption? User adoption planning is critical to SharePoint implementation success. Even the most powerful and well-designed SharePoint portal will flounder if employees aren't properly introduced to this business productivity tool.

Upfront planning, communication, and leadership alignment can simplify your SharePoint deployment and adoption activities. It's never too early in the process to start thinking about roll out, so DMC has compiled a short list of our best practices to drive a high user adoption rate.

1. Don't Do Everything at Once
SharePoint leads to lots of employee questions because it causes change. Identify goals for each phase of your organization’s SharePoint implementation.

2. Use Department Champions to Train Your End Users
If employees have questions, chances are they feel more comfortable asking someone they work with regularly. Provide extra training to SharePoint champions within each department to lead by example.

3. Facilitate Idea Sharing Between Departments
SharePoint champions should have a space to share failures and help spread successes. Identify a time and place for department champions to compare notes, in person or virtually.

4. Collect End User Feedback and Evaluate Improvement Ideas Regularly
Employees should know how to share their SharePoint feedback. Give employees a way to voice their thoughts and concerns through in-person meetings or a suggestion box.

5. Study Usage Analytics
Anecdotal evidence from users only tells part of the story. Use data to determine how people are using SharePoint and how its usability can be improved.

6. Provide Carrots for Users
If you want team members to use SharePoint, they must get something out of it. Provide valuable content, like KPI dashboards and leadership communications, in SharePoint to motivate users to engage with the system.

Download our free SharePoint User Adoption Guide

User adoption is key to a successful SharePoint rollout, but it doesn't have to be difficult. With some upfront planning and strategic communication, your team will be ready to harness the power of SharePoint. If your organization needs help getting started with (or restarting) a SharePoint implementation, contact DMC. We would love to help!

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